[Day: Friday, July 16th. Time: 6:45 p.m.]
[You're in the village beneath Dracula's castle. Unsurprisingly it's
deserted. The castle looms up ahead, past a winding mountain path.]
[Session Start]
* Rei is driving! Driving the mystery machine!
* Chie is riding! Riding with Rei is always an adventure!
(By winding mountain path, do we mean, "Unpaved winding mountain path
which is unusable by normal vehicles?")
Don't really see a parking lot around here, though I guess any place that
isn't an unturned grave counts as a decent parking spot...
Or a turned grave, actually, 'cause I don't need to fall in one of those
potholes. Man, this sucks.
* Rei drives up to the mountain. And... parks. She hits the breaks an extra
couple of times to wake Chomei up with the obnoxious stoppage.
* Chie is jolted. "Ow, Rei."
That's what seatbelts are for!
* Chomei is jerked awake. "Huh?"
Still, ow.
We're here! Everyone out!
* Rei turns off the mystery machine, unbuckles, and hops on out. Then she gets
back in, grabs the plush kirby hanging from the mirror, and gets out.
* Chomei gets out of the van. "... Right."
[Naomi hops out and pulls a pair of binoculars from her jacket. She
looks up at the castle. "Hmmm... Less monsters there than I expected."]
* Asanjya exits the van. Her hair swirls and Xaphan chitters nervously on her
shoulder.
* Lazar unstraps himself, and gets out. He hasn't spoken since you passed his
village, and he doesn't look to be in the mood for conversation. He's tensed up
to a ridiculous degree, which is impressive when you're made of stone.
Hey, does that mean you and Chomei can make our third team and we can just
get all three pieces of the Triforce or whatever it is faster?
* Chie hops out of the van and stretches.
[Naomi responds while still looking. "He could. Probably not a good
idea, though. But I think I can handle them if he wants to go with you
instead."]
* Chomei stretches and shrugs.
( At the same time? )
(How do you *do* that?)
(No, one after the other.)
(Stretch, then shrug)
(Yay, synchronized stretching! Kinda. ;p)
* Chie looks at Chomei. "Wanna come along?"
* Chomei thinks. "Sure you got things under control without me Naomi?"
[Naomi nods. "There's a lot of them, but they don't look like anything
too bad."]
Alright, I'll be working with Chie then.
* Chie grins. "And Rei, too."
( What?! ... oh, yeah, her too. I guess. )
Uh, are you sure, Naomi?
( On second thought, Naomi, maybe you do need my help.)
* Chomei snerks. "Yes, and Rei."
Naomi grins. "Hey, I might not look like much, but I'm a Kusagani.
We're built to take down supernaturals."
( Kusanagi. @_@ )
We will trust in your ability to kick ass, then.
* Lazar starts lumbering up the path to the castle.
* Rei nods. "Okay. Um... oh yeah. You have the thingie I gave you, right? In
your ear?"
* Asanjya shakes her head and follows Lazar.
[She nods, and starts heading up as well. "I'll call if I need any
help."]
* Rei smiles. She floats after. "Okay!"
You got it. Good luck!
* Chie heads for the castle.
* Chomei nods and smirks at Chie. "Let's get going."
[You walk up the slope. It's not that hard. At the top, there's a
drawbridge across the ravine. Amazingly enough, it's actually down. Of course,
there's a bunch of skeletons in the gate readying rifles, but you can't win 'em
all.]
* Rei eyes Chomei. "What's with the smirk, dude? You don't normally do that."
...skeletons. With guns. What the fuck?
* Rei looks back and starts. "Okay. *Who* gave the undead firearms?"
* Lazar draws his sword, and advances on the skeletons with a growl.
(I was gonna ask where you got the other one. ;p)
[Naomi follows behind Lazar. "They've modernized, I guess. Lazar, go
first."]
...
That is so stupid.
Agreed.
[The undead fire! The bullets ricochet harmlessly off Lazar.]
* Rei cheers. "Go shield! I mean, Lazar!"
Seriously, what's wrong with the traditional things like... okay, what do
skeletons normally wield?
* Lazar just keeps advancing steadily, rearing back with his sword when he gets
close.
Swords, shields, spears, scythes...
Clubs.
Burning pitchforks!
Nothing.
... NORMAL pitchforks.
"Anything."
They could be on fire.
Well, okay. What's wrong with those?
[As you approach, you other things in a crowd behind the skeletons.
Zombies, some of those axe-wielding things from before, fishmen...]
Why did we not think to bring greek fire?
'Cause we already went to Greece once, and we didn't wanna go back!
* Lazar just gets to hacking.
( Lemme know when to roll. )
You _can_ get it from other places.
* Rei keeps her distance. She's tailing (hee) the group, a good number of feet
behind.
But why import when you can get it local?
[Naomi tightens her gloves. "That's my cue. Run past me for the
entrence. Good luck, guys." She dashes around Lazar and right into the crowd.
Shortly there after, the undead start flying all over the place.]
* Chie watches with admiration. "She was not kidding. Let's go!"
* Chomei whistles. "No kidding." He starts running for the castle!
* Rei watches her go. "Yup, Kusanagi." And then she takes to the sky, zooming
for the enterance.
* Chie dashes for the entrance!
* Lazar eyes Naomi, then lowers his shoulder and charges, clearing a path for
the others by running over anything that gets in his way.
* Asanjya tails behind Lazar.
[Lazar bulldozes a few skeletons on the way there. The entrence is a
thick set of double doors, currently unguarded by anything. Anything in one
piece, that is.]
* Lazar keeps charging, and tries to break through said doors.
Laz, get the... wait, you're already on it.
He's good at that.
2d6-8
* Dicesuke throws the bones for Lazar (2d6-8) and gets -4.
Maybe he didn't lock them. We could try to, y'know, use the handle or
something.
I don't think Laz's gonna listen to you.
Like always.
Point.
[Lazar bursts right through the doors. Inside is a small entry
corridor, lit by candles placed between the tall windows. There's a red carpet
over the stone floor and red drapes on the windows.]
[Amazingly, there seems to be no sign of any opposition.]
* Rei peeks in. "Is it February, or did I miss something?"
* Asanjya looks around. "The lack of personal taste exhibited by vampires and
demons never ceases to amaze."
( Any candelabras? )
* Rei floats along, tugging at a bright pink shoelace in her hair. "Yeah, their
fashion totally stinks."
( Nope, just candles on the walls. )
( Shucks )
* Lazar stops himself in the middle of the room, looks around, then turns back
to the others.
That... is really boring.
No kidding.
What? Keep going! There's not even anywhere to split yet!
[There's artsy portraits on the walls, too, remniscient of Reinessance
stuff.]
* Rei looks. "I wonder how many of these are fake."
[They're large pictures, maybe twice your heights.]
Isn't this whole castle magically created?
Yup.
Yes, but are they magically created prints or magically created originals?
Ooh, good question.
I'd have to say originals.
Likely. Unchanged since the Carpathian era.
* Lazar nods at Rei (see? He does listen!), turns, and lumbers down the hallway.
* Chie heads along after Lazar.
* Rei keeps goin'. Uh, behind Lazar.
* Asanjya follows.
[The corridor opens up into a foyer of similar tastes. There's two
curving staircases that go up to the second floor here. There's also three
doors: One in between the stairs and two on the upper floor. But also in the
room is a figure in a dark cloak. It's got a skull for a face and a scythe.
"Oooh! Turn back, mortals, for you face Death itself! Ooooh!"]
* Rei waves. "Hi, Death! I've gotta admit, I've been hit by you once, but that
time I really didn't see it coming."
* Chomei raises an eyebrow.
* Chie winces.
"People never do. Except when they do, I mean. Uh... it's complicated.
Actually, forget I said anything.
Okay! Consider it forgotten. Sooooooo... you hang out here much?
[Death nods. "Oh, yeah. It's a great place."
Neat! Any suggested touristy spots?
For, y'know, Kodak momqents and stuff.
["Uh... Anyhow. I'm evil and powerful and all that, so you better run.
Oooh! Run! Run!"]
(I hear Dis is nice this time of year.)
(Me too!)
* Rei eyes Death, then points at the door on the first floor, between the
staircases. "Who wants to run there?"
"What? No, no. I mean back the way you came. Outside. Yeah? Yeah."
* Lazar eyes Death, confusion apparently overtaking anger for the moment.
* Asanjya looks up at Death. She seems rather unimpressed.
But we are running! Okay. Lazar, Asanjya, you guys can run through that
door. The rest of us can make a break for the upstairs and hope Death doesn't
catch us.
"You don't want to do that. I can pull out your souls from a distance
and show them to you before I eat them. Yeah."
Since when did Death eat souls?
But that doesn't make any sense. If you take them, then we're dead and
we can't see them.
[Death scratches its head. "Well, always. I just don't do it often.
That's all."]
Are you sure you're not just interning?
"No! Why would I do that? Death doesn't take interns."
Heaven takes interns.
* Rei folds her legs in the air. "But we don't really have time to discuss it."
"Well, good for them."
Can we just get going?
Yes.
I'd have to agree.
"You'll be sorry!"
Like I'm not already!
* Rei zips on upstairs.
Trust me, we already are.
You say that like we care.
* Chie runs up the stairs after Rei!
* Chomei runs up the stairs!
* Asanjya dashes for the door.
* Lazar eyes Asanjya, shrugs, and lumbers for the door.
[Death follows. "Hey! Wait!"]
(Who's he following?)
[Death follows Rei!]
(He's not death, he's Navi. Hey! Listen! Ultimate evil here!)
[Death runs after Rei! "Wait! You haven't heard about my awesome powers
yet!"]
( He's like that dog in Earthbound! )
It's okay! We believe you have them!
* Chie keeps running.
* Rei finishes flying up the stairs! "Yeah? Can you open a door?"
( "Can you kill Dracula?" "Damn right I can! Watch me!" *kills Dracula*
"Wow! I'm impressed!" )
(^^)
("And hey, we'll be going now, just like you asked us to!")
[Death nods. "Yeah, I can do that.]
Cool!
* Rei points at the door closest to them. "How 'bout that one?"
[Death trips at the top of the stairs, falling to the ground. As he
does, the skull mask falls off, revealing a pretty normal looking kid except for
pointed ears and tiny fangs. He looks at the mask and blinks. ".... Crap."
* Rei blinks at that, too. "Uh, Death..."
You dropped your face.
* Rei swoops down and scoops it up, then hands it to the kid.
You *are* an intern! I knew it!
(Hee!)
...
Yeeeup.
[He takes it from Rei and hurriedly puts it back on. "Look, just turn
around and go home, okay?"]
* Rei tilts her head. "Why? Chomei, open the door."
* Chomei summons Rownal as a scythe and opens the door. You know, by turning the
knob.
[The door opens. Behind it is a room that looks like a chuch. Complete
with a cross and an alter.]
(Any ways out from there?)
[NotDeath sighs. "Oh, man. Dracula's not gonna be happy about this."]
Eh, he hates us anyway.
[There's a door near the alter.]
So it's not really a big deal!
* Rei looks in. "Wow. Very Christian. Think he's compensating for his lack of
faith?"
Don't crosses hurt him?
He's *Dracula*. Crosses make him laugh.
* Rei points. "Door! Let's check it out, gang."
Okay. Then maybe he's taunting their God or something.
[Death walks towards the entrence. "Man, failed another job. Mom's not
gonna be thrilled to hear about this either."]
Sorry!
Sorry, Death! I think you're cool.
And I love the robes.
Snazzy. Just hope your next job doesn't have meddling heroes.
* Chomei goes to open the next door!
* Rei floats on after. "Nope. Just meddling kids and their dog..."
( Gimme awareness checks. )
2d6-2
* Dicesuke throws the bones for Chie (2d6-2) and gets 5.
2d6
* Dicesuke throws the bones for Rei (2d6) and gets 11.
2d6
* Dicesuke throws the bones for Chomei (2d6) and gets 4.
(Wow. Chomei made an awareness check and Rei failed it.)
[Chie and Chomei notice a table move itself, ever so slightly.]
( Flying furniture room! RUN!" )
Hang on, guys. Possessed table.
* Rei blinks, looking that way. "Exorcise it?"
Yep!
* Chie starts chanting at the table.
* Rei gives a thumbs up. "A-okay!"
2d6-3
* Dicesuke throws the bones for Chie (2d6-3) and gets 7.
(Made.)
( Exercise the table! "We're gonna work on your legs today..." )
[The table is surrounded in white light. Something screams and flies out
of it, then turns into nothing.]
... I love you, Chie, but I really hope you never point that exorcise
thing at me.
* Chie looks around the room, trying to sense if there are any more spirits in
furniture or other things.
Never, Rei. Never.
You know that.
[Nope.]
And we're clear.
* Chomei hmmms, and nods. "Let's go."
* Rei smiles. "Oh, that's good. I don't wanna get sucked up by a gun and put in
a containment unit."
That'd suck.
That's what I just said!
* Rei opens the door.
* Chie laughs.
[Behind the door appears to be a spiral staircase going down.]
*That* makes no sense, but it fits with the whole chaos theme, I guess.
* Rei floats on in and down!
Yep. Piecemeal.
* Chie cannot fly, so she has to do it the old-fashioned way. At least it's a
downward spiral... ooh, wait. That's not good.
... Yeah.
[The staircase goes down for quite a while. When it finally stops, it
opens up into a cavern.]
* Chie blinks. "Are we even *in* the castle anymore?"
Uh, this must be the cavern under the castle which is here every time?
Is it?
Probably!
It seems like it.
But since it's always with the castle, I guess it's part of the castle and
we should explore it in case there's a piece of the Triforce or whatever it is
down here.
Okay, then. Let's go.
* Rei goes, heading into the cavern of DARKNESS. She also pulls out a
flashlight.
* Chomei puts on nightvision goggles and goes down!
* Chie pulls out her flashlight.
* Rei idly considers turning the light to Chomei's goggles and watching him
scream in agony.
[You walk a bit! Hearing checks!]
2d6-2
* Dicesuke throws the bones for Chie (2d6-2) and gets 3.
2d6
* Dicesuke throws the bones for Rei (2d6) and gets 9.
2d6
* Dicesuke throws the bones for Chomei (2d6) and gets 8.
* Chie pauses. "Some water up ahead."
[The cavern gets quite a bit larger as you continue. It certainly
doesn't look like a castle.]
Oh, the water area? Uh. Maybe we should go back.
How much water?
Well, it'd be like... probably all the water for the castle...
(Yay. Blue Oyster Cult - Don't Fear The Reaper. 20 minutes late, but...)
Oh. Yeah, I don't think we wanna mess with that.
* Chomei whistles. "Mmmm... yeah."
* Rei smiles. "We can check it later if we finish searching the place and don't
find him."
Them.
The thingies. Whatever.
* Rei turns and zips back.
Right.
* Chie turns around and follows Rei.
* Chomei turns around too!
* Chomei starts walking up.
[You go back only to find the door at the top of the stairs shut and
unwilling to open! And it's not even locked.]
* Chie pulls on the door, then bangs on it. "Hey. Hey! Open up!"
[It don't!]
Is this *supposed* to happen?
Oh, come on!
* Rei backs up. "Chomei, blow the thing down."
Actually!
* Chie gets out of the way.
Wait, no. Maybe it's one way.
I'll try to open it.
* Rei has a seat on the stairs and closes her eyes.
* Chie watches Rei go.
* SpiritRei floats up. She grins and waves at Chie, then tries to go through the
door!
* Chie waves back.
* Chomei shrugs.
[Rei goes through the door.]
* SpiritRei tries opening it from this side!
[It don't open! It's one use only, apparently.]
* SpiritRei calls through the door, ~Okay, Chomei! Now blow it open!~
[There's a warranty on it. "Good for ont use."]
( Ont being Hungarian for 'one' )
* Chomei takes a smack at it with his scythe!
[The door stays intact!]
Oh, come on!
~Did he try it?~
* SpiritRei pokes her head through the door.
Yes. Nothing happened.
That's... bad.
* SpiritRei thinks that over. ~Does that mean we have to go the other- I guess
so.~
* Chomei takes another swing at it!
* SpiritRei vanishes.
* Rei opens her eyes and watches Chomei.
[The door remains intact!]
* Chomei swings again! "Third time's a charm!"
[It's still intact!]
* Chie kicks it. "Stupid door."
Open sesame!
[The door falls apart.]
...
Oh.
Go Chie!
* Chie powerposes.
...
I kick ass.
You kick DOOR!
Yep! ^_^_v
* Rei jumps to her feet and holds up Chie's hand. "The winner!"
* Rei looks to Chomei. "Sorry."
* Chie grins. "S'okay, maybe he can get it next time."
* Rei giggles. And heads on through.
[You're back in the church.]
* Chie goes on through. Yay for door-kicking!
* Chomei shrugs. "If a kick works, it works."
* Rei heads on out to the original door!
[Foyer!]
* Rei waves down at Death and goes for the second door on the upper level!
* Rei opens it.
[Behind that door is a corridor.]
* Chie peers down the corridor.
* Chomei follows and does the following thing.
[Well, after that singing experience, you head down the corridor. It's
filled with paintings. They might be watching you, you're not sure. The
corridor ends in a single door.]
Chie's turn!
Have at it.
* Chie opens the door! Or at least tries to.
[The door opens into what must be the garden. It's a wide area blocked
on some sides by the building's walls, others by a hedge maze.]
* Rei looks around. "Gonna get a good view of that maze."
Good idea.
* Rei flies up and takes a look from above!
* Rei activates the intercom. ~Okay, guys! I can get you through this. Just
follow my instructions while you go through the maze.~
(Which means Naomi and Asanjya and Lazar can hear her, too. Heh.)
~Okay! Lead us on through!~
~Roger, Chie!~
2d6
* Dicesuke throws the bones for Rei (2d6) and gets 7.
~Um... Just a thought. How about I fly and carry Chie?~
2d6
* Dicesuke throws the bones for Rei (2d6) and gets 11.
~Oh. Right. I kinda forgot about that.~
[Rei suddenly turns around, but still is unprepared as a gargoyle swoops
up to her and jams the butt of its spear into her stomach.]
* Rei stares at the gargoyle for a moment, then she wraps her hands around the
spear and screams.
(I bet they can hear that.)
Rei!
Let's go, Chomei!
* Chomei nods and sprouts wings. "Hold on! I don't think it's going to be
smooth."
( Gimme init rolls )
* Rei tumbles out of the sky a bit, then steadies herself in the air and brings
her hands before her. A bright, white sphere forms before them, and she spreads
her hands, shooting it forward at the gargoyle. "Disco Nova!"
* Chie nods and grabs on.
d6+7
* Dicesuke throws the bones for Chie (d6+7) and gets 12.
d6+6
* Dicesuke throws the bones for Rei (d6+6) and gets 12.
d6+8
* Dicesuke throws the bones for Chomei (d6+8) and gets 12.
[Gargoyle, everyone else.]
[The gargoyle swings at Rei again! Look out, Rei!]
2d6
* Dicesuke throws the bones for Rei (2d6) and gets 3.
(Can't touch this!)
[Rei dodges as the gargoyle thrusts its spear at her.]
[All youse guys, go!]
* Rei dodges, and now she fires off the Disco Nova she prepared as she fell!
Point blank, almost.
2d6-3
* Dicesuke throws the bones for Rei (2d6-3) and gets 8.
* Chie chants and the silver light surrounds her hand. She points it at the
gargoyle. "Spirit Stream!"
2d6-2
* Dicesuke throws the bones for Chie (2d6-2) and gets 2.
* Chomei takes off and, changing Rownal into a bow, takes a shot at the garg!
2d6-3
* Dicesuke throws the bones for Chomei (2d6-3) and gets 2.
[The gargoyle gets thoroughly dead.]
... Okay, we're so flying over this maze.
Yes. Just watch out for more of them.
... Yeah.
* Rei looks up and around. "Come on up, guys."
* Chomei flies up!
* Chie is hanging onto Chomei, so up she goes!
[You take the cheap and easy way out but ignore all the items, and land
at the edge of the hedge maze on the other side of the castle, where there's a
door.]
* Chie lands. "I really need to learn how to fly."
I'm sure you can learn!
You need to, um... believe you can!
And then flap your arms really hard.
* Rei opens the door.
So whose turn is it to get the door?
It's a very useful ability... And no.
* Chomei looks at Rei.
* Rei pouts.
[Rei opens the door! Inside is a small square room with a fountain in
the center. And there's something behind it: a humanoid shape surrounded in
shadow.]
* Chie peers at it.
[Chie can't really make it out. It's hidden. In shadow!]
* Chomei peers at the humanoid shape in shadows!
* Rei looks in. "Hello?"
[It says nothing, but starts shambling forward.]
What *is* that thing?
I've got no clue.